Seven Seas Beacon Fire

"It even involves foreign guests now, this is even more of a headache... Wait a minute, why is there an 'urgent' sign after this passenger's name?"

While being shot in the buttocks is certainly painful, it's generally not life-threatening; at most, it might be extremely painful. Before Li Shuangying was promoted to the Dali Temple, he once fired a shot into the buttocks of a suspect trying to climb over a wall during a case-solving chase. The small revolver he was issued back then was quite weak, with poor penetration and stopping power.

But the bullet somehow pierced four holes in the suspect's buttocks. The 1.9-meter-tall strong man collapsed to the ground, crying and unable to resist. Although he was not actually in any danger, Li Shuangying still remembers how he screamed and howled when he was taken to the hospital.

Surely the bullet couldn't have gone through his buttocks and entered his abdomen?

"That patient's case was somewhat special because, according to the patient's sister and parents, the patient had hemophilia."

"What disease?"

Li Shuangying picked at his ear. He had heard of terms like "internal heat," "dampness," and "insufficient kidney yin," and he also knew about terms like "flu" and "high fever," which were popular from a while ago to the present. But he had never heard of hemophilia before.

In this era before the internet age, access to information and knowledge was as convenient as it is now; in many places, it truly felt like there was no separate world for those in different fields.

“I think I’ve read about hemophilia in a book. It seems that quite a few nobles in Europe have this disease. The sister of the Ursus boy who was shot told us that her brother’s wound was extremely difficult to heal. The doctor had already bandaged his wound, but it seems that the bleeding is indeed not stopping.”

"What are you standing there for? Quickly reverse back and get all the injured passengers, including that Ursus boy, to the hospital!"

"Yes! Lord Si Zhi."

After watching his subordinates salute and leave, Li Shuangying looked at the list in his hand, shook his head and sighed: "I hope God will protect us and that no one dies. Whether I, Old Li, will be rewarded or punished this time depends on whether the hospital in the mining area is up to the task."

Chapter 334 Seeing Through the Disguise

"Is the Dali Temple's arrest operation so frivolous?"

Li Che looked at Di Zengtai, the Vice Minister of the Court of Judicial Review, who had an awkward smile on his face: "Since the previous reconnaissance operation has already confirmed the identities of some of the bandits, why is the arrest operation still being carried out on the train? In your eyes, is it more important to catch these bandits or to protect the lives and property of the people?"

“Of course, protecting the lives and property of the people is of utmost importance.” Di Zengtai respectfully bowed and replied, “It’s just that the local police station had arrested some of these bandits before, but they had never been able to catch the ringleader. After these bandits quieted down for a while, they came out again to cause trouble. In order to ensure the long-term stability of the railway outside the pass, we decided to take a risk and arrest them before they made a move.”

Li Che did not accept Di Zengtai's explanation: "That's not a reason, Lord Di. I would like to ask you, if we put ourselves in your shoes, if your wife and children were on this train, would you choose to take action on the train? I have just read the case file. I know that the Dali Temple is paying close attention to this case, but we can't just ignore everything else in order to solve the case, can we?"

"Your Highness's criticism is correct. I will record all the consequences of this action and submit them to the Court of Judicial Review upon my return to the capital. The Minister of the Court of Judicial Review, together with the main officials of the Three Departments, will jointly investigate the case. I will bear all the faults and responsibilities that I should bear in this action."

"Alright, now is not the time to discuss responsibility. That will naturally be decided by the Three Departments and His Majesty at that time. Where did the first gunshot come from? If it weren't for that sudden gunshot, the arrest operation wouldn't have been carried out so hastily ahead of schedule."

Li Che tapped on the contents marked in red on the file. The trigger for this accident on the train was the sudden gunshot. If the gunshot was caused by some unlucky guy who didn't properly lock the safety during the operation, then that careless guy would have to pay the price.

“This…” A helpless smile appeared on Di Zengtai’s face: “This is really a bit unlucky and coincidental.”

"Oh?"

"As Your Highness knows, immediately after the arrest operation concluded, Li Shuangying, the Chief Justice of the Court of Judicial Review, began investigating the origin of the gunshot. The investigation wasn't too complicated, as there were many eyewitnesses present. The initial commotion wasn't a real gunshot, but rather the sound of a child carrying firecrackers onto the train. During the journey, the child lit the firecrackers and threw them into the train carriage's toilet..."

So it turns out that a naughty kid set Sarajevo on fire on the train?

"Can the sound of firecrackers be confused with the sound of gunfire?"

"The sound of the explosion inside the enclosed train toilet was indeed quite similar to the sound of a shotgun blast. The team members tested this on the spot after the arrest operation, and there were other eyewitnesses in the carriage as well..."

“This brat…” Li Che sighed and rubbed his forehead in exasperation. “After you’ve compiled all the details of this case, show them to me first. As for how the responsibility should be divided and who should be held accountable, we can discuss and handle that with the relevant authorities when we return to the capital. How many civilian casualties were caused this time?”

"A total of approximately 29 passengers were injured to varying degrees. In addition, four crew members and three members of the action team were injured. Although some of them were seriously injured, no one has died so far except for the criminals."

"Where was the patient taken? I heard there's another injured passenger from Ursus among them?" Li Che turned his gaze to Di Zengtai: "And this passenger's injuries are quite serious because he has hemophilia?"

"Yes, Your Highness. However, all the patients have been transferred to the Obo Second Miners' Hospital. This hospital was formerly a branch of the military hospital under the garrison. After the mining industry in Obo was nationalized, this hospital was also assigned to the mine to serve the miners. It is one of only two top-tier hospitals in the area, and its medical capabilities are quite strong. Currently, the Ursus passenger's condition is relatively stable..."

"Can you confirm that the passenger has hemophilia and is a teenager?" Li Che further confirmed.

At this moment, Di Zengtai was also able to sense the slight abnormality in the Crown Prince's words. Even if there were a few foreign passengers among the injured passengers, which was considered a case involving foreigners and therefore deserved more attention, a mere ordinary passenger from Ursus was not worth the Crown Prince's repeated attention.

Moreover, the Crown Prince did not inquire about the current state of the passenger's gunfire, but rather whether the passenger had hemophilia.

"The hospital tests show that this patient does indeed have hemophilia... Ah?! Your Highness, do you mean...?"

Suddenly, an idea flashed into Di Zengtai's mind like a flash of inspiration. Previously, as the Vice Minister of the Court of Judicial Review, he had been focusing his thoughts on domestic affairs according to his usual work habits. However, after the Crown Prince's deliberate reminder, the fact that a teenager from Ursus was suffering from hemophilia, coupled with the fact that Ursus political news had always occupied most of the international news section, made it really hard not to make that connection.

Although there are many teenagers in the world suffering from hemophilia, and even in Ursus, Crown Prince Alexei is not the only hemophiliac, thanks to that mad monk Balasputin, Crown Prince Alexei is definitely the most well-known hemophiliac in the world.

Now everyone knows that Alexei, the former crown prince of the Ursus Empire, and two princesses are still missing.

"That Ursus passenger who was shot, it seems, had two older sisters?"

"This... I'll go contact the Embroidered Uniform Guard right away... Oh no, I'll go contact the Military Intelligence Bureau right away."

It's clear that Di Zengtai was shocked by the conclusion he had just drawn. If his guess is correct, then this case is no longer just a simple criminal case!

Therefore, in his haste, he even subconsciously called the Military Intelligence Bureau the Embroidered Uniform Guard. Of course, Li Che would not pursue the matter of Lord Di's slip of the tongue. After all, the Embroidered Uniform Guard had existed for more than 500 years. It was like how, after the Russians took the red flag, people still preferred to call Russia's intelligence agency the KGB. Even in the Tang Dynasty, the Embroidered Uniform Guard was more of a name for an intelligence and special agent organization than a name for an institution.

"I had already had the Military Intelligence Bureau verify my identity before this."

Li Che picked up his teacup and took a sip. In fact, he was somewhat relieved at that moment. He had almost missed this potential big fish, because initially no one had specifically reported to him the Ursus passenger's specific injuries and illnesses. Therefore, he hadn't known at first that the Ursus passenger had hemophilia.

However, the photos taken by the team members when these passengers disembarked were sent back along with the operation report, and naturally there were also close-up photos of the injured Ursus passengers and their accompanying family members.

The photos were developed and delivered to him immediately. Li Che was just casually flipping through the photos while going through the operation report, but when he saw the faces of the two Ursus girls accompanying the stretcher, he was a little strange that he had a strange feeling of déjà vu about these two Ursus girls he had never met before.

Li Che was certain that he wasn't Jia Baoyu, and wouldn't just say to any pretty girl he met, "I've clearly seen this girl before."

Although he had not been able to control himself during the signing of the Honolulu Naval Treaty, he was quite certain that if he could control himself, he would be absolutely devoted to Zhu Miaoyun.

While these two Ursus girls were undeniably beautiful, even in photographs from that era, they were, to be honest, a step below Zhu Miaoyun, a stunning beauty with both looks and figure that were simply outrageous.

After confirming that his feeling of déjà vu with the two Ursus girls was not due to hormonal issues, Li Che began to recall whether he had ever seen the two girls before.

After some initial recollection, he naturally couldn't recall seeing any Ursus women. During the years of the World War, Li Che had never met any of them. These two girls, who looked quite young, were probably only thirteen or fourteen years old at the beginning of the war, just like him. So he was quite certain that he had never met these two Ursus girls.

If I've truly never met these two girls in this world.........

Wait a minute, he seems to have indeed seen these two girls in a book from another world.

Leaving aside the older one, the face of the younger one began to become clearer in his hazy memories. That's right! This girl looks a lot like Anastasia!

Although in the other world, his impression of Anastasia came mostly from a two-dimensional card battle game from a certain island nation, among Yunyun's friends happened to be a female fan of historical fiction. That female fan had a particularly strong interest in the family of the last Tsar of Russia, especially Anastasia herself and related legends, who could almost be considered her "idol".

That's why Li Che had seen quite a few photos of Anastasia in the other world. Although the girl in front of him was dressed completely differently from Anastasia's princess dress in the other world, he still managed to connect the two based on his vague memories.

When he reviewed the more detailed report and discovered that the Ursus passenger also had hemophilia, although there was no conclusive evidence, Li Che believed that there was an 80% chance that he had just discovered the whereabouts of the missing former Ursus crown prince and princess.

At that moment, the phone rang inside the house. Li Che picked up the receiver and put it to his ear. He didn't say anything, but waited quietly for the report from the other end of the line to be completed. After that, he softly hummed in agreement and hung up the phone.

But as he slammed the phone down, an undisguised smile crept onto his face.

"Lord Di, I feel that after what has happened, I should go to the hospital to properly comfort the injured patients. What do you think?"

How could Di Zengtai not understand what the Crown Prince meant? He hadn't made the connection before because of his habitual way of thinking at work, but now that he understood the key points, how many of those who could climb to the position of Vice Minister of the Court of Judicial Review were incompetent?

"Excellent! Your Highness's concern for the people is truly a blessing for the Tang Dynasty!"

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"Our identities have definitely been exposed."

Ivan paced back and forth in the room. Two hours earlier, armed guards had appeared in the hospital corridors. Although these guards claimed to be there to maintain order in the hospital, ensure the safety of the patients, and prevent them from suffering further harm, and these claims were welcomed by the many patients staying in the hospital, Ivan knew very well that there was an 80-90% chance that these guards were there for them.

After all, if the only requirement was to ensure the safety of these patients, all that was needed was to deploy all the hospital security guards; there was no need for these heavily armed guards. Ivan was stopped when he tried to go out for a smoke under the pretext, but he still managed to discover that there was even a heavy machine gun set up at the hospital entrance.

This kind of action hardly seems like it's to guard against a few railway robbers; you could easily believe it's to prevent a war with the Ursus Federation.

So at this moment, Ivan faced a dilemma: should they reveal their identities now, lest the Tang Empire later raise conditions and things become more difficult to negotiate?

"So what should we do? Reveal our identities to them?"

Anastasia sat on a chair with her knees drawn up to her chest, resting her chin on her knees, and asked in a slightly melancholy tone.

"I'm afraid they haven't actually discovered that we're just scaring ourselves. If we reveal our identities, we might face even more trouble." Ivan still harbored a sliver of hope.

“There’s no need for everyone to be so discouraged.” Princess Maria was the calmest of them all. “The newspapers we bought reported that the Crown Prince of the Eastern Empire has also come to this city. If they really do recognize us, then I should have a chance to meet the Crown Prince. I’ve seen his picture in the newspaper; he’s a man as handsome as a god.”

As she spoke, Princess Maria's eyes were practically sparkling with admiration. Anastasia could only silently turn her head away at her sister's infatuation, which seemed to take everything in stride.

Chapter 335 The Flower-Obsessed Princess Maria

The corridors of the Second Miners' Hospital were almost full of patients and their accompanying family members. Some patients even came down from the second-floor orthopedics department on crutches, craning their necks to see what the Crown Prince looked like.

The guards surrounding Li Che were all terrified. They had never expected the patients to be so enthusiastic. If an assassin were to infiltrate the patients at this moment, no one could guarantee the safety of the Crown Prince.

In fact, the head guard beside Li Che already had the urge to forcibly remove the Crown Prince from the area. He turned to look at Liu, the market supervisor of Obo City, and Di, the Vice Minister of the Court of Judicial Review, who were following behind and had been separated by the crowd. Both of them were pale and ashen-faced. After all, in the case that had just been solved, no one could guarantee that there weren't any escapees. If any escapees were planning revenge at this moment…

Especially the local market supervisor, Lord Liu, who worked his way up from the bottom for 35 years, rising step by step from the lowest level of official to county magistrate. If it weren't for the upheaval at the end of the Ming Dynasty and the beginning of the Tang Dynasty (this phrase sounds a bit strange), he would probably have only ever been a county magistrate, and he would never have become the market supervisor he is today.

However, if something were to happen to the Crown Prince, the position he has climbed up over 35 years would likely be taken away within three to five days.

But the Crown Prince clearly has no intention of leaving now, so what can he do?

Li Che was actually a bit confused. In the other world, Yunyun had read some novels about becoming a successful person, such as "What Should I Do If I'm Too Popular?". In the past, he would have looked down on such novels that lacked substance, but if he had the chance to reread novels of this genre, he would definitely study them word by word.

Why are all these people so enthusiastic?

For example, right in front of him was an elderly woman who warmly shook his hand while looking at him with kind eyes. Her eyes didn't show much awe for his status as the Crown Prince, but rather a sense of satisfaction at watching him grow up.

"Your Highness, the last time I saw you was at the ceremony when His Majesty was still the Prince of Jin, before he went to war. At that time, Your Highness was just a little boy. Now you've grown into such a strong young man. I've long thought that His Majesty is far superior to the former Emperor Yongning of the Ming Dynasty! With such a celestial grandson as Your Highness, His Majesty's rule over the Tang Dynasty will surely be as impregnable as an iron barrel!"

The old lady grabbed Li Che's hand, who was covered in black lines, and began reminiscing about the past, while other people were also chiming in—

"Yes, yes, what the old lady said makes sense."

"I've seen a sage go to war back in the day!"

"Back then, the imperial court within the Great Wall didn't care whether we lived or died. Whenever disaster struck, it was always the Emperor who led the army to rescue us! Even Yue Fei's army in ancient times couldn't have done better!"

"This is what is meant by 'the virtuous should rule the land.'"

"That's what I thought too!"

Good heavens, no wonder I'm so popular! It turns out this is the "revolutionary old area" of our Prince Li Jin's mansion outside the Great Wall. Thanks to the various "great favors and virtues" during the reign of Emperor Yongning, the border regions and the interior of the Great Wall in the late Ming Dynasty could not be said to be disloyal, but at least they could be said to be "each with their own agenda." Although using such a derogatory term is not very accurate, that's roughly the idea.

Of course, besides the people of the "old revolutionary base areas," there are now quite a few new "cross-border travelers" in the area after the war ended. After all, the large number of job opportunities provided by the state-owned mines, railways and highways that were being developed attracted many people. Although these people certainly do not have the same heartfelt support for their homeland as the native people of the area, as is a tradition of the East, they are happy to come up and shake hands with the Crown Prince—in their view, this can bring them some joy and honor.

Why was Li Che so certain about this? Because from the moment he arrived until now, he had encountered more than one pregnant woman who had squeezed her way out of the OB-GYN. Each of them, taking advantage of their pregnancy, pushed their way through the crowd, insisting on touching their bellies to share some good fortune with their unborn children.

Li Che really wanted to say, "I have no say in the children in your wombs, so why are you asking me to share in your good fortune? Can't we be a little more materialistic?"

Fortunately, when he encountered the fifth pregnant woman, she suddenly exclaimed that her water had broken. Everyone immediately dispersed, and the medical staff pushed a trolley over, lifted the pregnant woman onto the trolley, and quickly took her to the delivery room. Li Che was able to take this opportunity to escape.

I came here just to confirm the identities of those Ursus passengers. But I don't know what came over me and I wanted to comfort the injured people in other accidents. If I had thought of it, I would have used this excuse to naturally take the opportunity to confirm their identities. But after being squeezed by the crowd, I feel that the brain thrombus in my brain caused by the lack of water and sleep these past two days has been dislodged. Why should I pretend to be so natural?

I'll just go over and take a look. If it is, it is; if not, I'll just leave. I'm not some underground agent from a spy drama!

Somewhat belatedly, after figuring it out, Li Che realized that he had really been wasting his reputation as a genius. Now it seemed that he had sometimes been a bit foolish. Fortunately, he was able to get away from the situation and, together with the relieved guards and accompanying officials, went to the elevator and headed upstairs to the intensive care unit.

The gunshot wound to the Ursus passenger wasn't particularly serious, but hemophilia was indeed a problem, Li Che thought. He first went to the intensive care unit and saw "Alyosha," who had finally fallen asleep after taking his painkillers and sleeping pills. The name Ursus was far too common; in the East, it would be like Zhang Wei. He stared intently at the boy's face, but to be honest, he couldn't discern his identity from his features.

In that other world, he had seen photographs of the Tsar's family. He had some recollection of the Tsar's wife and four princesses, especially the two youngest. But as for the Crown Prince...

To be honest, he has a lot of face blindness when it comes to Ursus boys of this age.

Aside from visiting hours, patients' family members are mostly not allowed to stay in the intensive care unit. Li Che turned to the accompanying hospital director and asked, "Where are you arranging this patient's family members now?"

"The Traditional Chinese Medicine department, which is right across from the intensive care unit, arranged a ward for them to stay in."

"A whole family crammed into one hospital room?"

"Oh, our wards are very big, with 12 beds in one ward."

Li Che then realized that he had subconsciously confused the top-tier hospitals of this era with those of Yunyun's era. In Yunyun's time, the wards of top-tier hospitals were basically double or triple rooms with private bathrooms. Departments such as obstetrics and gynecology would also provide special single-person care rooms. Such resources were unimaginable for most hospitals in this era, except for a very few aristocratic hospitals.

These days, hospital wards are often designed like classrooms from school days. At night, the snoring of a dozen or so patients, plus their families sleeping on extra beds or sleeping on the floor, creates a scene that can be described as "like listening to celestial music and temporarily deafening the ears."

"Take me there."

As Li Che, led by the dean, arrived at the door of the ward and was about to push it open, the door opened from the inside, and a beautiful Ursus girl with slightly curly flaxen hair opened the door to come out, holding a bouquet of flowers in her arms.

Probably not expecting so many people to suddenly appear outside the door, and some of them clearly dressed in military or police uniforms, the girl seemed to be greatly frightened. She shrank back like a deer, and the flowers in her hand began to fall freely to the ground.

Li Che reached out and caught the bouquet of flowers that was about to fall, his eyes fixed on the Ursus girl in front of him. At this moment, there was no need to ask any more questions. The previously blurry memories in his mind quickly became clear after seeing this familiar face again.............. Damn, why does this feel like a childhood sweetheart reunion?

However, he and the Ursus girl in front of him were clearly not childhood sweethearts. He had only seen a picture of this girl, Anastasia, in a book from another world!

A girl who was turned into a heroic spirit by a game developer.

He looked down at the flowers in his hand. They weren't any rare or expensive varieties; they seemed to be ornamental flowers and wildflowers picked from the hospital's greenbelt. However, the girl had carefully trimmed them and arranged them into a beautiful bouquet.

He handed the flower back to the girl, saying in what could be considered fluent Ursusese, "Очень приятно познакомиться, мисс Анастасия." (It's a pleasure to meet you, Miss Anastasia.)

The girl subconsciously replied with a thank you, but when she was about to accept the flowers, she quickly withdrew them, staring wide-eyed at the young man in front of her.

"I'm not..." Anastasia wanted to deny it, but the girl didn't even know how to defend herself.

This was the first time on their journey that their identities had been recognized so directly to their faces. The others in the house also came to the door after hearing the commotion. Ivan and Raisa, the two adults, were already clenching their fists nervously. Judging from the commotion outside the door, it was clear that the Tang Empire had basically confirmed their identities.

What kind of situation they will face in this country next is beyond their control. Although, as of now, it shouldn't be the worst-case scenario—after all, they have already escaped Ursus.